In the tenth century, when the city of Canton (Guangzhou) began to experience an increase in commercial travel,[3] many frequented teahouses for small-portion meals with tea called "yum cha" (brunch).

The second is dim sum, which translates literally to "touch the heart", the term used to designate the small food items that accompanied the tea.

In fact, the cookbooks of most Chinese food cultures tend to combine their own variations on dim sum dishes with other local snacks.

[15][17][18] Some Restaurants in Hong Kong and Guangdong province even offers dim sum all day till late night.

[33][34] According to one legend, to show soldiers gratitude after battles, a general had civilians make buns and cakes to send to the front lines.

Some versions date the legend to the Southern Song dynasty (960–1279) after the term's earliest attestation in the Book of Tang (Chinese: 唐書; pinyin: Táng shū; Jyutping: Tong4 Syu1).

[34] Written in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–979), the book uses dim sum as a verb instead: 「治妝未畢, 我未及餐, 爾且可點心」(pinyin: "Zhì zhuāng wèi bì, wǒ wèi jí cān, ěr qiě kě diǎn xīn"; Jyutping: "Zi6 zong1 mei6 bat1, ngo5 mei6 kap6 caan1, ji5 ce2 ho2 dim2 sam1"), which translates to "I have not finished preparing myself and am not ready for a proper meal; therefore, you can treat yourself to some small snacks.

[35][36] Chinese food historian Yan-kit So has described dim sum as:[37][2]Literally translated as "so close to the heart", they are, in reality, a large range of hors d'oeuvres Cantonese people traditionally enjoy in restaurants (previously teahouses) for breakfast and lunch but never for dinner, washed down with tea.

[40][10][41] A traditional dim sum brunch includes various types of steamed buns, such as cha siu bao (a steamed bun filled with barbecue pork), rice or wheat dumplings, and rice noodle rolls that contain a range of ingredients, including beef, chicken, pork, prawns, and vegetarian options.

[45][46] It is customary to order "family-style", sharing the small dishes consisting of three or four pieces of dim sum among all members of the dining party.

[43][113] Dim sum is part of the Chinese tradition of snacks originating from the Song dynasty (960–1279), when royal chefs created various dishes such as minced pheasant, lark tongue, and desserts made from steamed milk and bean paste.

[38] Guangzhou was a wealthy, large port city that had international visitors, a temperate climate, and a coastline where fresh and tropical ingredients were grown, resulting in an ideal environment for food and entertainment.

[7] Teahouse dining areas were typically located upstairs, and initial dim sum fare included steamed buns.

[7] Cantonese dim sum was originally based on local foods such as sweet roast pork called "char siu" and fresh rice noodles.

[7] Part of this development included reducing portion sizes of larger dishes originally from northern China, such as stuffed steamed buns, so they could easily be incorporated into the dim sum menu.

[7] Over thousands of years, as people in China migrated in search of different places to live, they carried the recipes of their favorite foods and continued to prepare and serve these dishes.

[7] Savory dishes, such as pot stickers and steamed dumplings, include Muslim influences because of people traveling from Central Asia across the Silk Road and into Guangdong.

[7] By 1860, foreign influences had to shape Guangdong's dim sum with culinary innovations such as ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and curry, all of which came to be used in some savory dishes.

[7] Early every morning, customers visited inexpensive restaurants that offered filled steamed buns and hot tea.

[7] By the late 1930s, Guangzhou's teahouse culture included four high-profile dim sum chefs, with signs at the front doors of their restaurants.

[7] There was heavy competition among teahouses, and as a result, new varieties of dim sum were invented almost daily, including dishes influenced by the tea pastries of Shanghai, Beijing, and the Western world.

[7] Many new fusion dishes were also created, including puddings, baked rolls, turnovers, custard tarts, and Malay steamed cakes.

[38] Very large dim sum restaurants in major cities like Hong Kong, San Francisco, Boston, Toronto, and New York were also established.

[117][118] The history of San Francisco's Chinese community is believed to have started about 30 years before the first dim sum restaurant opened in the city's Chinatown neighborhood.

[120] There is a restaurant, bar, and highly rated dance club complex in Las Vegas, NV, that features high-end Cantonese food (including dim sum), craft cocktails, dinner parties, and prominent disc jockeys in a chic setting.

[125] In Hong Kong, many chefs are also introducing variants based on traditional Cantonese cuisine, which generates interest and provides both Hongkongers and tourists with new, fresh dim sum dishes.

[129] Variations designed for visual appeal on social media, such as dumplings and buns made to resemble animals and fictional characters, also exist.

[30][31][130] Dim sum chefs have previously used cocoa powder as coloring to create steamed bread puffs to appear like forest mushrooms, espresso powder as both flavoring and coloring for deep-fried riblets, as well as pastry cream, and French puffs to create innovative dishes while paying tribute to the history of dim sum.

[131][132] Major grocery stores in Hong Kong, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Australia,[133] the United States[134][135] and Canada[136] stock a variety of frozen or fresh dim sum.

[citation needed] When they have finished eating, the customer calls the server over, and their bill is calculated based on the number of stamps or quantities marked in each priced section.